Attempted Kidnapping In Amarillo. Is It Safe To Let Kids Outside?

When I was a kid growing up, we'd get home from school, run in and have a quick snack, then we'd immediately head outside to play in the neighborhood with our friends. We didn't have all the devices kids have now, so our entertainment was either watching something on TV or going out to play.

I remember countless times hopping on my bike and riding it to the nearest music store, which was a good mile or so away from my house, so I could go check out the new music. My parents never worried about me going there or being outside cruising the neighborhood on my bike with friends.

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Things have changed dramatically though, and it's just flat-out scary. Back on December 3rd, there was an attempted kidnapping that happened in the Cimmaron Avenue area. Thankfully the child was able to get away and make it home safe, but it just heightened the fact that it doesn't seem safe to go outside anymore if you're a kid.

Parents try all the time to keep their kids off their tablets and phones. We tell them it's not good for their eyes or brain to be wrapped up in nothing but a device. We want them to go outside, be active, and have fun with the kids in the neighborhood.

The flip side of that is we are constantly checking on our kids if they go outside, and with good reason. I know when my kids are in the neighborhood playing, we check their whereabouts roughly every 15 minutes, and we panic when we can't see or hear them.

It's because these days, we have WAY too many people who just scoop kids up for no particular reason it seems. Cars driving down the street give me anxiety when my kids are out there, and even more so when an unrecognizable car stops on my street.

Is it safe anywhere these days to just allow your kids to hop on their bikes and cruise around town? I mean, I'd love for my kids to be able to live the way I lived. We had so much fun being able to find different routes to ride our bikes, whether in the neighborhood or on major roads to get to a place we enjoyed.

The amount of Amber Alerts I've gotten recently is staggering. I know they're from all around Texas when they come in, and a lot of them are family members grabbing a child that is theirs, but plenty of times there are abductions that just randomly happen, like the attempted one the other day.

How do we get a handle on this to where it's safe again for our kids to just go out and play?